LSU Eunice's Paul Fowler, Director of Developmental Education, spoke at a statewide meeting dealing with developmental education last month involving virtually all higher education institutions in the state of Louisiana.

Purcell invited Fowler to speak at the statewide Workshop on Improving Developmental Education Outcomes because success in LSU Eunice's section of the co-requisite college algebra outpaced the rest of the state.

"I was surprised when (former) Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell himself called to notify me that LSU Eunice had done well in helping students through a co-requisite mathematics course," said Fowler.

State policy places students with a mathematics ACT score of 19 in college algebra. Students that score 18 or less are placed into developmental mathematics; however, a student with a math score of 17 or 18 may take a special course allowing them to enroll in college algebra. The co-requisite mathematics course combines the developmental and college level math together in one semester.

Students spend five hours in class per week; however, they can save time and money using the co-requisite method since they do not enroll in separate courses in separate semesters.

"I also took the opportunity to highlight LSU Eunice's other successful programs - one of them being the Modular Mathematics program," said Fowler. "This program allows students to learn developmental mathematics via computer spending less time on what they already know and more time on what they need help with."

Faculty members and tutors are in the classroom to help students as needed. Students have the opportunity to complete two developmental math courses in one semester for the price of one.

He then address LSUE's Pathways to Success Program which is designed for students who need developmental education coursework in every subject. Students with no ACT scores or have a composite of 15 and below are eligible for the Pathways to Success Program.

"Finally, I mentioned the Pathways to Success Program which turns ten years old this year," Fowler said. "Students are more successful if they have a structured program."

Ten years ago, this population of students had an average grade point average of 1.429 with 39 percent of them being placed on probation. Now, the average grade point average is 2.312 and only eight percent of the students are being placed on academic probation.

LSU Eunice is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate degrees. Contact the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, at http://www.sacscoc.org , or call 404-679-4500, for questions about the accreditation of LSU Eunice.

LSU Eunice is an affirmative action/equal opportunity educator and employer.